Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
EMBRACING
LIFE - Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
I do it long
Longer than letters spelling the words
I live for the length
I have lived through the times
But my memories are unspent
I do it long
Seven different beats
Dancers changing costumes
With every new scene
I am patient
You left me at the rails
But the ocean is still down below
I have seen miracles before
And my rebound has long been foretold
I am doing it long
Fulfilling expectations
Showing naysayers why I am an exception
I’m attracted to bends and curves
I am winning my wars without carrying guns
I know what a journey of a thousand steps takes
My will is not made from bones, that’s not how you define
stamina
I put values in the means, so it’s not enslaved by an
insatiable end
I have seen fireworks thrown at my spanners
I have used that to test my imperfect manners
I love it long,
Sweetness in a longing’s aftermath
Weather often gets cold
But I’m never scared to run a bath
I hear you saying it, but I’ve seen me doing it
You know how to describe, but my steps are practiced
You said his voice was husky
When you heard it first you panicked
I have been doing this for long
Words aiming for my heart never leave me forlorn
You aim to pierce
I came prepared
Through the bumps
That make us do sudden jumps
Through bare hallways
that make us question why our tunnel is dark, always
Through days
We wished were perfect, till the rain again had its way
Through preference for means
Because we knew ends are endless
And often create hardened monsters
Through all the courage we could muster
When men said we should move on
And our minds reply it isn’t a chalkboard
That could be erased by a duster
Through Easters when only the winds came around to spend time
Through scenes and words, we often rewind
We have held sanity with grips only silence can describe
Birds often arrive with dawn
And often come along with a song
We will face today again
Embracing life, that package of twists and turns
Clutching dreams till harvests say it is our turn
Living it long
Till earth says we should return…
Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
He is the maker of my state
A master playmaker
Asked to excel
Became a rebel
Prayed for to be a warrior
Now he’s harvesting preys
I make mistakes in dozens
Twelve of them at once
Like disciples on a stroll
Walking across a sea with no other color than red
The shores told tales that they came back well-fed
Forget that they were forced
Forget about that class, forget you were first
Papers do nothing, who do you know
Impeccably dressed, impeccable English
That is not the make of any honorable I know
He is the maker of my fate
Powerful in a way that is perplex
I will not bore you with a tale, my story is complex
Just find me a moonlight, promise me the sun at dawn
Garnish it with silence
It makes everything perfect
Idumota was left to itself
Atop the bridge springs forth boutiques with floors for
shelves
We may find thoroughfare hard to come by
But the prices are cheap, so I am encouraged to come buy
So leave scarcity of space a problem for sirens to resolve
When the president comes to town, normalcy is dissolved
He is the winner of my game
A brute of a tactician
Brothers become united against their friends
Temples are ignited, faiths have to follow the trend
Ablutions, then absolutions
Redemptions, followed by what men will not define as
revolution
If hence a thief emerges
Conscience becomes like a ship observed to be submerging
Margins become neither fair nor delicate
The blind and the seeing are never the same
You paid to be admitted, see what you became
A doctor’s reverse
Bliss in an alternate universe
Love conquers all, but tongues and faiths
He who believes in neither recruits both
Described as gentle as a dove
Not till he tampered with the till
And his friends stole to their fill
Not till we are left with the bill
Till our paper started weighing half of its former size
Did morsels of commonsense descend?
It wasn’t enough to go round
Some of them are still going round
Requesting to have their corruption back
Never cutting objective slacks
Showing clearly what their nation lacks
They are the real playmakers
Those men with purpled thumbs
They are the makers and masters of their fates…
Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo.
To the shadows of doubt, that gave birth to Thomas
I hear your call, I heed your summon
He is breathing life, you may call him someone
Born broken, yet able
He walks with a dirty plate, plastic and fabled
That, along with tatters hanging on his back
defines him as living a life, defined by lack.
Windows closed,
Same as your soul
Watching him makes your teeth gnash
Irritant on earth-lines
The crumbs he picks puts a spring in his steps
The last bite of a donut,
The burnt remains of a filled pot
The tasteless remains
left by a gate, which could have been meant for a dog,
Is what he finds, and takes himself to be in luck
He is one of us, he is even more human
Watching out for his gang
with whom spoils are shared
They are running races, often seen in good cheer
I have worried about cold nights
Yet the manner of approach, invokes pity but it may be served
along with a warm smile
Slave to the farmer in planting season
This isn’t the land of his birth, he was donated without
feeling
I need a mother’s name, I need a home address
I need a father’s number, he needs to know I’m not impressed
I need to sue society, on behalf of them I seek redress
To the rich men whose greed will not aid distribution
I seek vengeance, I seek retribution
Take away pap and curved spoons
Watered in minutes less than an hour, are those sugarless
spoonfuls
If they leave you to us, we are not yet lions
Tamed by a mallam, we are cast in spiritual irons
Blowing hot, when streets and communes, need to abuse
Days later, when smoke clears, returning back to being refuse
Refused the courtesy of a returned greetings
Their kids ride past in bikes, with the breeze leaving behind
ill-feelings
We do not seek rights beyond filled stomachs
We do not mind treks to fulfill our life’s purpose, but mallam
times our comebacks
Who does not fear whips that lay fever on a body
Left in care or he who cares, by parents who feel you are a
burden
Seeking knowledge spins reckless abandon on its head
He started doing this, when he became four, seven weeks less
The use of stones became tool for counting the days thereafter
Not till the ardour of his task, helped him flip a page, till
he closed that chapter
He doesn’t know how much he needs to learn or when he’s
leaving
This being a verse more seen than written…
Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
Work replaces life
Work said to me in the evening,
"Take me home",
I'll come back with you in the morning
When fever arrived
Work looked the other way
Not accepting blame
When pockets got dry
Work craved absolution
He cried that he's not the reason I have bills
Work says, your bills only take, all I do is give
Work steals time from wife
Work says you need to be here to buy her diamonds
Work says you need me to be a man
Work says, women need him in my profile
Women want to know where he has placed me
And when they do, they will then decide whether to praise me
Work blackmails me
I feel tired, weary to the bone
Yet I am rushing out of home
On my way to work,
Isn't work, warfare?
Isn't work their reason for seeking amulets
In search of spiritual armaments
They said work should be what you love doing
So that work will not seem like work
But work hates disguises
It claims to have put food on the table, so praising him is
the right thing
Work occupies time, forces you to flip chapters instead of
pages
Fast life becomes slow
At old age's approach
When men or women wearing tags and labels
Tag you a rebel, forcing you to leave work
Cards ban you from withdrawing
And you struggle with withdrawal symptoms
Then you begin to crave work
Even if all you've been doing is a slave's work
You've learnt how pennies fill tummies
Learnt to act fulfilled
When effort is unrecognized and credit is plagiarized
You followed your conscience
And for that, threats of no work
Got you back in line
Because you've seen your friends doing time,
Sentenced to plenty of time
Because when you have bills, having plenty of time seems like
a crime
Work is toil
Toil tampers with age and soils youth
You are all the same
Whether you're wearing ties or decked in jungle boots
It's like attending school all over again, because there's a
register
Press your thumb, provide proof of location
Work is a daily occasion
It is occupation, because you are occupied,
Someone wishes you to be his legal slave.
And first, she's checking your faith
Interviewer asking whether you are a fanatic
There's calmness in his face, but religion teaches normal
lunacy
A man with ideas may be forced to bury his thoughts
The things you will be asked to do in the name of work
And when you can nail one down
They will say you are in luck
When each dawn pushes you to go somewhere
People think you have a basketful of savings
They think work has made you rich because you're not
complaining
If work is that nice a man, why aren't we all rich?
Work is occupation, time-occupier
You may butter yourself up, but card balance can't ever
pretend to be a liar
Heroes are those who look work in the face
And dare to walk away
I mean those, who go to sleep with the keys in their pocket
Who do not gape at suits, and have no difficulty putting eyes
back in their sockets
Those men and women with coarse hands and clean money
Who when they rise in the mornings
Have time to smell the coffee
And will not send in an excuse to be off, because they are
coughing
Putting value in your own name
And saying to yourself, freedom is only achieved, when you are
your own slave.
Akeem Oyalowo
Words that resurrect moods and feelings
Words that tap the others
Urging them to rise and follow one another
Words that are sweeter than sugar
Words that emerge to tell their own tales
But help in telling the make of your soul
Words that the doctor says might not fit
Like that which comes, from a tender voice
But intended to hurt
Words that build walls
That say you to yours and me to mine
Words that build fortresses
Words which pull together
And say one for all, and all for one
United we stand, divided we fall
Words that centrifugalize
To your tents, O Israel
Let mothers claim their children
Let mothers learn to dive
So that they may give life, and while at it, die
Words which summon tears
from a dry cupboard
Words which subtly tell water to walk to the face
And bring salt along
Words which prophesy
A vision came, it said you’ll be great
It demands a sacrifice
Ears to fall off a hen,
Teeth to be plucked off a lion while he sleeps in his den
You have to rise, after midnight, immediately after the
body’s first stir
Long before the cock’s first crow
Madume ran, as fast as his feet could take him
Greed nurtured his dreams
Now the gods will make him scream
And they are not to be blamed
You have been warned to watch your words
To make gentleness your watchword
Words which brew war
Before the sword was forged,
Words were born
Words lit fires and proceeded to leave harmony in ashes
Words that dare a tongue to analyze memory
Words which give up a cupboard’s skeletons
Words which refuse to queue behind wisdom
Words spoken in low tones,
Wit in disguise
Words which reveal secrets
And say there’s nothing hidden under the sky
Words which express regrets
A sudden realization
When we suddenly become aware that too much has been said
Words which probe a soul
And tear a strong heart to pieces
Words which hurt
Starting a journey of no return
A soul’s pain isn’t same as bruise
Ointment can’t be prescribed
Words which lurk
That they were not spoken do not mean they do not exist
Words which open doors
Words that push us to exist
Words which tell of a departure
Goodbyes are often not palatable
Words which say everything is achievable
Words scandalized by clichés
As long as there is life, there is hope
Words that lead home
There is a time for everything
Whatever has a beginning has an end,
Words do not have ends
Words take a break
Words despise silence
And use it to build loneliness
Words only make room for sleep and death…
Akeem Oyalowo
HE SAYS HE KNOWS THE COLOR OF THE DUST - - Akeem
Oyalowo
He says everything he says is true
Every flatter, every compliment
It is the truth, and he sounds confident
He is speaking into her ears
But all he wants is her soul
He wants the whole of her to himself
He is not promising a very big cage, with rows like that of a
shelf
Just a platform for her to fly, for her to be her true self
3.15 a.m
He notices a dimple, which he says is her first for the day
He notices how her face
Shines as if sprayed by the sun’s radiance
Then he kneels to pray
To request for her on-going dream to come true
When the body is absent
And when conversations take place
He wanders after her voice, its milk and its texture
Then he launches into questions
Wondering what’s wrong
Rejecting responses which says things are normal
As if on steroids
As if high on music notes from an invisible stereo
He launches into chorus,
Into songs no one has heard, even if music history is their
focus
He says his love for her is pure
It has been planted ever since
And now the sun has made love to manure
so harvests abound
He carries her in his arms to display to the surrounding walls
He may not know much of the world
But he‘s ready to proceed to war
To fight them, if that’s what’s needed to keep her
He says he knows what she’s thinking
Whenever dimples berths her face and eyes twinkles
He says she will be forever young
And joy fills the heart to which she belongs
These are the things he is saying
Proofs of affections running deep
Proof of the weight of love, which he makes light
Proof of illuminations emerging from within, which makes a
face bright
He is saying things he knows
He is speaking the truth and it shows
She’s believing it too
And that’s how the story goes…
Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
STAND YOUR GROUND - - Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
It is about a magic spell
The very spot where happiness dwells
Approaching the end of the beginning
And realizing had this been a game
That you are definitely winning
It is about being calm
It is about silence
Even when you are asked to bear arms
You know it is about your charm
Content defining sweetness
It is about evidence
Words of the recipient
The minute details of a continuing experience
Say it softly
So that it lands gently
Say it and be firm
Tell them about the harvests in your farm
Say it with your eyes
Discovery of dimples which used to love to hide
Show them where you stand
And the very being who stands beside
Say yes with your soul
And all contrary things from without wont gain a foothold
This is about time
What has begun, and what continues
What is already in the purse, and what continues to accrue in
revenue
This is like the springs
Purpose, pace and direction
You may also observe it to be pure
It is consistent, it is why we are sure
This is about the heiress, the princess
And the excesses of joy
Treasure found in conversation
The chemistry,
Of flows without ebb
Of getting to a scary place
But not needing help
This is the moment you are about to be born
When all of a mind’s lights, comes on
When life becomes ready for your dreams
This is what it is about
Time to move ahead
Time to stop circumambulating a roundabout
When the street becomes broad
When the past becomes a fraud
And the future becomes revelation
This is the moment to face the traffic
And wait for the lights to be green
This is when you stand your ground!
Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
PEOPLE LIKE ME - - Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
Will
never be like them
I have
found my path
Littered
with pebbles
Some of
us are made from bricks
That life
has christened hard
Drank
from streams
With
unpalatable flavors
We will
never be like them
Our
dreams were called fantasies
They were
written in paper
That was
torn in between two worlds
And the
truth became that we are being made to live through endless wars
We will
never be like them
Those
whom we point fingers at
Hearts
which do not long for kindness
Heads
that had always bowed to science
Minds
which seek for cadaver among the living
Hands
which will make stories out of your grieving
We will
never be like them
We have
hands stuck in the mouth
We have
teeth lusting for flesh it can sink in
We have
rulers gifted to live life without thinking
We can
never be like them
We are
not less, they are not more
We just
hope less and do nothing with our rainfall
We want
to be like them
So we
poured ink on thumbs
And
declared our leaders to no longer wear uniforms
We wanted
acceptance
So while
seeking aid, we knelt in repentance
We
muddied the principal, and got stuck with interest
We
condense the future and called the shylocks our friends
Pictures
showing that we shook hands does not mean we are mates
When we
signed the deals, we sealed tomorrow and enveloped our fates
We can
never be like them
We learnt
to swing our waists and inherited the disease
Swept off
our feet by powder, sacrificed our skins for bleach
We wanted
to be like them
So we
shaved our eyebrows and used pencils to draw it back
Turned
our faces to drawing boards
But are
scared to wholly use pens
We want blue
eyes and red lips
Long hair
and high heels
We want
to be like them
So
highlife superstars developed an accent
Started
singing in tongues where our norms are absent
We want
collaborations
We are
dissolving right before our own eyes but declined to call it
evaporation
We can
never be like them
Not when
our heroes are calling out their kin to come to the stage
While
they in silence watch as you all take a once in a lifetime picture
We sealed
today yesterday
We will
continue everyday
To repay
the tomorrow that we borrowed
We can be
like them in our own way
Name the
game and chose when to play
Paint the
ship and direct where it sails
Call a
spade by its name
And till
the land all by ourselves without a joint venture
We will
be like them, if majority carries the vote
Carrying
along a minority, so nobody will sink the boat
We can be
like them but not today
We have
drunken of a spell and our heads are still stuck in the pail
We are
being led from behind
And
detest pressing play in preference for rewind
We can be
like them
But not
tonight
This
verse came to the fore in the dark
I am
brown, it’s those men from Darfur that are really black
They and
the flies buzzing around their lips
Forever
in love with war, so peace admits it’s too weak to maintain a grip…
Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
THERE ARE THINGS (editor’s title) - - Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
There are things they will do to you
Just for being a girl
Swollen flesh below the nipples
And the front and back stuffs down below
May make them think you are feeble
So your case is always on the gist menu
We can loudly discuss, there’s no need for a special venue
Was the treatment special
When throats were slit, soon as he entered
Was it because they were boys
Women to them are better toys
Something a shelf could be used to display
Something with a price tag,
Something you could call drummers for
And be paraded around town, because she’s getting too old
She’s yearning to play
She’s willing to be yours, even if you are earning lesser pay
The things we would do
Just because she’s a girl
The list we would give
Just because she dared to love
And must be blessed before she’s sent on her way
Someone needs wrappers,
And bottles of spirits
Someone needs pampers
For the grandchildren of the clan’s elderly woman
Who lives in a district the bride has never been to
There must be wines, there must be beer
She doesn’t drink and she hates the smell
That’s even why, they said she was the right choice
But she must also been seen and never be heard
Because no one quite cares, whether or not she has a voice
Virtues request silence
And silence begets acceptance
She’s often told she needs a ring and must seek the lord for
repentance
They often ask me to bring forth a child, and I do desire a
daughter
But these grounds are a preparation for slaughter
We love being the cock, chasing after the hen
We promised her sweet love and lured her into a den
The rules have changed because she’s a woman
Just because he has male organs, he is thinking he’s a man
A ward bearing his name has never seen his check
The paths he is forced to follow isn’t from his deck
A child has learnt to love from her mother’s bosom
Wiping sweat from her brows, she’s determined her flowers must
blossom
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend
You may call them mothers, if they have to hawk almonds for
bread
Walking for miles to earn half his night’s expenses on beer
Going home to bed, the burdens of the smell she has to bear
And the things she must teach her child
That there’s no justice in the syllabus often drives me wild
They call it culture
I maintain we are not all vultures
They praise her for having the patience to bear all these
And the wedding sermon is for her to be like her and discover
bliss
They say he’s the crown on her head
They say his food must quickly be ready, and he must be well
fed
They say she must contribute her quota
Women these days are conscientious workers
They say she must never raise her voice because he deserves
respect
She’s surely heading to prison, and she’s taking the express…
Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF - - Akeem Adetayo
Oyalowo
They ask what’s sugar made of
I ask if they’ve ever seen her smile
I wanted to know
If they’ve seen the power of softness
Happiness dissolving on the lips.
Before the man confessed he fell
He first started to slip
And when the dreams came
He discovered he is still not asleep
I know they have questions
But it is hard to share visions
It is easy to follow visuals
Flow with the tide
And be led deep into the oceans
It’s easy to look into her eyes
And describe your future
Because
Your words hence
Are seen to be filled with confidence
Acting so cool
As warmth becomes heat in a tropical continent
When joy emerges from a soul
It begins to isolate
It places you on a tree
And makes you see life going on down below
You might be bellowed at
Someone somewhere telling you to please be awake
To not fall into the mud
To always be conscious of what is at stake
And then she tells them
This is a state of consciousness
Dreams beckoning on life
You have to be alive to make it happen
Throwing stones skywards
Beckoning on a tree to let go of an apple
Loving, is a deed for the living
It erases sin
Often at the meeting of eyes,
So there won’t be a need to say all has been forgiven
Some people are describing perfections
But those on the journey are not asking for directions
A heart has its own maps
Its fuel is maintaining a clasp
Two hands joined as Siamese would
Two souls melting into one, as bangles often make a wrist do
They ask what dreams are made of
I tell them, it happens when eyes have seen enough
And a soul can describe its destination
It is when it stops walking alone
It is when it is happy to duck stones
And caress its treasures
It is when it is happy to not measure its pleasures
It is when a giver opens up to receive
It is the faith in the future, in which we are yet to live
It is when both head and heart discover a melting point
A loosening of rations
An easy steer of stirring emotions
Devotions forever preceded by a smile
A quickened pace found at the feet of time
Rejuvenations, secret jubilations
Body, mind and soul in collaboration
It is the switching of gears
Of a life experiencing eternal elevation…
Akeem Adetayo
Oyalowo
I STARTED DOING IT BIT BY BIT(POEM OF THE MONTH) -
- Akeem Adetayo Oyalowo
Tiny footsteps as if I’m
dancing to a beat
Making it soft
Like a river caresses its
shores
Telling you this is
lifelong
That I am certainly sure
Nothing ever so pure, has
ever been found
Patience has a syllabus
Including a chapter called
whatever goes around comes around
Reaching a tipping point
Approaching edges, to
stare at your fears in the face
Knowing you are human
Because you’ve experienced
defeats
Rising
As a surprise,
As a means to disappoint
Those who confirmed you’re
stuck at a dead end
Reaching a bend
And calling it a turning
point
Putting the pieces back
together
While accepting all of
life’s task is solving riddles and puzzles
I have found you,
Stuck on the threshold of
greatness
Willing to be the evidence
And then asking you to
vote for me,
Allow me bear witness
Your smiles, your laughter
They are my strength, and
they get me high
And being high is my
weakness
So weak I’m tolerant of
your faults
So high, I am focused on
your vaults
That coven of riches
For which your beauty
fronts
That bundle of goodness
Which seduces trust
That voice of yours, which
dares
And confronts my guts
I’m doing it bit by bit
Not seen caressing your
soul
But here I am at your feet
I am preempting your words
Because you are close
enough to make whispers shy
I think always of you as a
queen
Because your royalty is
your twin
Walking so lightly, as if
the winds provide buffer between your soles and the earth
Watching your beauty in
deeds, realizing then that there’s soul in every classic art
I am doing this for the
concrete, from a which a rose emerges
Doing it for a future,
which others can only imagine
I am doing this for you
Such life in this
love
That qualifies you as the
love of my life
Too much milk for a sour
past
We desired a change of
cast
I’m doing this bit by bit
Words off my tongue, deeds
off my heart
Nothing I can repeat
Something I hope to see to
its end
But can never hope to
finish
I am doing this bit by bit
Fetching water from the
oceans
Because every day you need
a bath
Showers of love for which
joy is a catch
Never forgetting to say
there’s more from where this comes
Daring you to see what
happiness becomes
Seeing a smile on your
face
Knowing it’s the symbol
for triumph
You saying you’ve never
been loved this way
Me, replying this is just
for today
That’s there’s
more tomorrow
Daily doses of sweetness
from the beats of my heart
It has come to you in bits
Because it’s how we define
forever…
Akeem
Adetayo Oyalowo
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